Explorers Guide Santa Barbara Californias Central Coast A Great Destination Includes The Santa Ynez Valley Explorers Great Destinations

"Consistently rated the best guides to the regions covered."—National Geographic Traveler From the region’s laid-back beach towns to the jumble of Monterey’s Cannery Row, California’s Central Coast offers the most spectacular triptych of landscapes—surf, forests, and picturesque small towns—in the West. Includes coverage of the region’s vineyards, culinary gems, and coastal hideaways.

"Consistently rated the best guides to the regions covered."—National Geographic Traveler From the region’s laid-back beach towns to the jumble of Monterey’s Cannery Row, California’s Central Coast offers the most spectacular triptych of landscapes—surf, forests, and picturesque small towns—in the West. Includes coverage of the region’s vineyards, culinary gems, and coastal hideaways.

The essential insider's guide to exploring the Central Coast's wineries, restaurants, recreation, culture, and accommodations. The Central Coast is internationally recognized as one of the natural treasures of the West, offering craggy cliffs, ancient redwoods, and endless beaches to explore. This book, written by fourth- and fifth-generation Californians, takes travelers to some of the most sought-after destinations, including shops, inns, restaurants, and wineries known only to the locals until now. With a down-to-earth appreciation for their own stomping grounds, the authors write as enthusiastic guides, eager to share what they know and love about the region. Rich in detail, covering everything from the autumnal monarch butterfly migration to opera festivals, the best honky-tonk blues joints to fine dining steeped in tradition and elegance, this book homes in on an eclectic selection of what makes this strip of coastline one of the most desired destinations in the world.

Travel writer Stuart Thornton introduces you to the best of Santa Barbara and California's Central Coast, from Santa Barbara's stunning Spanish architecture to Ventura's treasure-filled thrift shops. A longtime resident of the Central Coast, Thornton has plenty of unique trip strategies to offer, as well as helpful tips on the best beaches, cheap eats, campgrounds, and more. Complete with inside information on enjoying the California Avocado Festival, sipping wine at the 16 wine tasting rooms on the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail, and catching some rays on Pismo Beach, Moon Santa Barbara & the Central Coast gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience. This ebook and its features are best experienced on iOS or Android devices and the Kindle Fire.

The Central Coast of California Book covers everything from Half Moon Bay, Monterey, and Carmel to San Simeon and Santa Barbara. A special chapter by is devoted to the world-class wineries of this vacation paradise. This indispensable guide covers what the others have missed!

Any travel book about Santa Barbara should be informative and entertaining. Only this travel book is informative, entertaining and funny. Santa Barbara Know-It-All believes a sense of humor while traveling is essential to making your visit memorable, and even making it a little bit idiosyncratic, or maybe quirky. No, we re going with idiosyncratic. Unique in its approach, Santa Barbara Know-It-All is packed with Santa Barbara s hidden gems and undiscovered wonders, from the best places to picnic, hike, to places for booze, local foods, shopping, not to mention trivia and unusual truths that make Santa Barbara distinctive. Everything in this book has been vetted personally by the author; he's eaten at each restaurant, stayed at each hotel, gone scuba diving at the Channel Islands, paragliding over Santa Barbara, run along the beaches and overturned each proverbial rock so you can discover exactly what makes Santa Barbara, you know, Santa Barbara. The 25 Questions True or False Quiz will test your knowledge of Santa Barbara so you too can be a smarty pants about America's Riviera. If you re going to travel to Santa Barbara, then travel funny.

• Sutil Island, a 1,250 foot-long island, 1,900 feet off the southwest end of Santa Barbara Island was named after one of merchant-explorer Sebastian Vizcaino’s ships. • Gaspar de Portola founded Presidio of San Carlos Borromeo de Monterey, at present day Monterey in 1770. In 1822, the Mexicans built a fort about one mile northwest of the original presidio. After American occupation of Monterey in 1846, Colonel Richard B, Mason had a redoubt build in 1847, about 700 feet up the hill above the Mexican installation. • In the 1880s, James J. Pierce, a proprietor of local timber operations, laid out a town originally named Pacific Mills, but postal authorities objected to the name and it was renamed Ben Lomond for nearby Ben Lomond Mountain. The mountain had been named for a Scottish wine-growing area by Scotsman James Burns who planted a vineyard on the ridge in 1850. • Bourdieu Valley, one mile west of Smith Mountain along the uppermost part of Pancho Rico Creek, is named for Ed Bourdieu who raised cattle and sheep there sometime after 1900. ...just a taste from the scads of fascinating facts to be mined from Durham’s Place-Names of California’s Central Coast. This gazetteer, one of fourteen volumes in the Durham’s Place-Names of California Series, is derived from California’s Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State, David L. Durham’s definitive gazetteer of California. Each volume of the series contains the complete body of entries contained in California’s Geographic Names for the counties covered. Thousands of topographic features, such as ridges, peaks, canyons and valleys; water features, such as streams, lakes, waterfalls, and springs; and cultural features, such as cities, towns, crossroads and railroad sidings are included. Many entries include information about who named the feature, when and why, as well as alternate or obsolete names. A complete bibliography of sources is included. Longitude and latitude are given for each feature, a boon to hikers wishing to use GPS devices to keep on track to their destinations. Guaranteed to provide addictively entertaining browsing for residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, Monterey, and Santa Cruz counties, this book will also delight: • Tourists • Historians • Geographers • Students • Writers • Cartographers • Genealogists • Hikers and outdoor folks of all kinds • Great for browsing. • Indispensable for research. • Keep a copy in your car to use on trips!

This Explorer's Guide focuses on the wide range of activities and vast culture of Southern California. Explore this vacation-lover’s wonderland of outdoor activities like golf, surfing, kayaking, and hiking and top-10 lists for destinations throughout the area. In addition to Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and the Inland Empire, coverage includes wild spaces like Joshua Tree, Yosemite National Park, Sequoia, and King’s Canyon. With extensive coverage of Disneyland and an exhaustive list of the best beaches.

This Explorer's Guide focuses on the wide range of activities and vast culture of Southern California. Explore this vacation-lover’s wonderland of outdoor activities like golf, surfing, kayaking, and hiking and top-10 lists for destinations throughout the area. In addition to Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and the Inland Empire, coverage includes wild spaces like Joshua Tree, Yosemite National Park, Sequoia, and King’s Canyon. With extensive coverage of Disneyland and an exhaustive list of the best beaches.